Back To Go Again
by sammyholst
Summary: Peter Bash and Damien Karp are both acting out of character and Jared Franklin can't work out what's going on until all of a sudden it all makes perfect sense. Friendship/Romance/Slightly Angsty. Pairings: Jared/Peter - Bashlin, and one sided Jared/Damien.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one:

Jared watched with a grin on his face as his partner, Peter Bash completely owned the court room.  
Peter's winning closing speeches never ceased to amaze him with the way they always won the jury over.

There had been times where they were sure they were losing and then Peter had got out there, done his little move of fastening his jacket, used his charming smile and turned the case right around so that they had won.

Jared caught Peter's eye when he turned to face the front and gave him a thumbs up to let him know that he was doing brilliantly.

Peter stopped himself from letting a huge grin cover his face and turned back to face the jury before he looked like a complete goof.

Jared admired that about Peter. He somehow always managed to keep his head in the game no matter how ridiculous Jared was being.

He was sure he could tickle Peter right now and he would still manage to carry on with his amazing speech and only let a small smile crawl onto his face.

"Right?" Peter ended his speech with a rhetorical question to get the jury thinking.

Jared watched them all respond to the speech in different ways.

The majority of them were staring dreamily at Peter with flirty smiles. This didn't come as a surprise to Jared because he had to admit that he was an attractive guy. His dark hair always looked so soft and styled perfectly into the 'Peter style'. His hazel eyes glistened whenever he had an idea or was smiling and that was enough to drive anyone crazy. He also had a fantastic body that fascinated Jared because it was so nice yet Peter was always cramming junk food into his mouth.

"How d'you think I did?" Peter's voice shocked Jared almost as much as his hand sliding across his shoulders as he sat back down next to him. He had been so caught up thinking about how Peter managed to have such a good body that he didn't realise he'd come back over.

"Dude, you did awesome!" Jared whispered back and Peter's face lit up. He got a glimpse of the glisten in his eyes and felt himself smiling. He didn't realise he was staring until Peter turned back to him and lightly slapped him round the face,

"You're gonna miss the part where he says all charges on our client are dropped and that we are the most awesome guys ever!"

"Oh, uh, can't miss that!" Jared replied hastily and turned to face the front. He needed to start drinking more water or something because he was sure that staring at people wasn't healthy.

"All charges against Mr Alton are dropped-"

"YES!" Jared almost yelled throwing a fist in the air causing the judge to roll his eyes. Peter pulled Jared in for a hug with his strong arms and squeezed tightly. Mr Alton's case had been such a difficult one to win and both he and Peter had been sure that their client was going to be charged thousands and locked up in a cell for the rest of his life.

Jared felt a slight stroke on his back from Peter's fingers and smiled as he pulled away so that their faces were directly in front of each other.

"Told you that you were awesome up there!" He smiled and watched as Peter's face lit up.

"It wasn't just down to me though was it? We're Franklin and Bash!" Peter grinned and they shared a quick fist pound.

"Thanks guys!" Mr Alton walked over to them and the two lawyers got to their feet.

"Not a problem!" Jared grinned and shook his hand.

Mr Alton said another quick thank you to Jared before turning to Peter and frowning slightly.

He hesitated before he shook the larger man's s hand, smiled awkwardly and walked off back to his life.

"What was that?" Jared turned to Peter and laughed.

"What was what?" Peter almost spat which shocked him a little. He was fine a second ago.

"That. You know... the way he almost thought twice about shaking your hand..."

"Did he? Oh. I didn't notice. Maybe he fancied you or something. You should go for it. After all, it wouldn't be the first time that you've had the hots for one of our clients would it?" Peter tried to laugh it off but his face remained hard and his eyes didn't have the sparkle in them.

"Not my fault I'm this sexy. He's not really my type... he's... well..."

"A guy." Peter said flatly and turned to the door. Everyone else had left the room and Jared realised that they were alone. Something seemed to be troubling Peter but Jared had no idea what could have happened. He had been fine the whole day until Mr Alton had shook his hand.

"Are you okay?" Jared asked, putting a hand just above Peter's left elbow.

Peter looked down at the hand on his arm and his face softened for a second. He turned to face Jared but his face had lost the soft, mellow look and he looked angry again.

"I just didn't like Alton much, that's all." He shrugged and looked at the floor. Jared knew he was lying. He sensed the dislike for Mr Alton was true but the 'that's all' was a complete lie.

"He was awesome!" Jared protested, "He liked chicken and waffles!" he licked his lips and waited for Peter to argue why the guy wasn't awesome. Jared knew that if he made him argue then he would get the truth. Instead, Peter just smiled. It didn't quite light up his eyes but it was a smile. A soothing Peter smile.

"Speaking of which, wanna go grab something to eat? I'm starving!"

"Yeah, let's go." Jared responded, confused as to what was going on. He desperately wanted to know what bothered Peter so much about Mr Alton but he supposed he could let it go. He'd rather see Peter smiling than troubled.

"Dude, hands off my fries!" Peter laughed and swatted at Jared's hand that was hovering over his plate.

"But I didn't get fries and I really want fries!" Jared whinged and leant his head into Peter's arm, nudging on it like a dog. He'd found that if he was really irritating then he'd get his own way eventually.

"You should have got fries then! I don't see you offering me any of your chicken and waffles!" Peter rolled his eyes and Jared jerked away instantly and possessively covered his plate with his arms.

"My precious..." he rasped which sent both of them into fits of laughter.

"I knew you looked like someone and just couldn't work it out until now! Gollum!"

"Oi! Shut up!" Jared giggled and returned to his plate of food. Peter had cheered up in the last 20 minutes which made Jared a lot happier but didn't stop him from being worried. He had started to wonder if Alton had done something to Peter. If he had done something to Peter then Jared would make it his duty to ruin Alton's life.

"I'm feeling a party tonight!" Peter said randomly and waved a fry in the air, "a party where everyone has to bring fries!"

"We'd get a bit fat if we ate all of them wouldn't we?"

"I'm past the stage of caring about how much I eat!" Peter grinned and stuffed about 5 fries in his mouth.

"Yeah, I can tell..." Jared nodded at Peter's stomach with a cheeky grin on his face. He was convinced Peter's body was made of steel. You could punch his abs and your fist would hurt.

"Really?" Peter stopped eating suddenly and looked down as his torso, "Is it bad? We're gonna have to start watching what we eat and-"

"I was joking! Your body's love- fine. Your body is fine." Jared's cheeks flushed red and he looked down at his plate. Had he really almost told his best friend that he had a lovely body?

"Well aren't you a cutie!" Peter laughed and heavy-handedly ruffled Jared's soft brown hair. Jared raised his eyebrows. It was weird that he'd thought Peter's body as 'lovely' but the way Peter didn't react was almost as weird.

"Get off!" Jared laughed and grabbed Peter's arm with both of his hands. He knew for a fact that Peter was stronger but it didn't stop him from trying. Peter moved his other hand down to Jared's neck and started tickling him which caused the littler man to squeal and writhe about in his seat. Jared was a complete sucker when it came to being tickled and there was no way he'd be able to fight off Peter.

"You are such a girl!" Peter let go of Jared and licked his lips. He stared at Jared for a second before he continued laughing and picked up another fry.

"What was that look for?"

"What look?" Peter turned back to Jared and looked nervous. Jared didn't want to go down the same road as earlier so he smiled and shook his head.

"Never mind. We need to get home if we're gonna have this party!"

"Fry party?" Peter asked hopefully, almost jumping to his feet with excitement.

"If you so desire! We're not gonna invite Damien to this one are we?"

"Invite Damien?" Peter froze and the hardened, angry face from earlier was back, "what do you mean to 'this one'?"

"Well he was at our last one so-"

"Yeah. I heard." Peter turned away from Jared and began to walk away.

"What the? Where are you going? Peter! What are you on about?" Jared followed him quickly and reached out after him, desperate to stop him from walking away. His hands found the taller man's waist which caused Peter to stop dead in his tracks.

"I'm going to get ready for tonight." With that sentence Peter walked out of the door in front of him and Jared just stood, dumbly, watching him walk away. What had got into Peter? Why had he got all tetchy at the mention of Damien? Yeah, Damien was a bit of a dick but that didn't stop him from being an alright guy.

Jared suddenly realised that everyone in the diner was staring at him. Scowling at them, he stalked out of the door, prepared to make things better with Peter when he got home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Jared couldn't get Peter out of his bedroom. He'd been there since Jared had walked through the door and was still there after what had been two hours now.

This meant that for the past two (long) hours, Jared had been sitting outside his best friend's room with his back against the door, asking if he was alright every now and again.

Peter would just grunt in response every time which caused Jared to get even angrier than he already was.

"Why are you doing this, Peter?" He shouted through the door and turned to slam his fist against it, "you've been acting like a prick to me all day and I've done nothing!" Jared slammed his fist against the door again and instantly regretted it when the pain caused his eyes to fill with tears.

"Jared?" A concerned Carmen walked towards him and crouched down at his side. She noticed the tears in his eyes and her face almost took on a panicked look, "what's happened?" She wiped at his tears and sat down beside him, offering her time for him to explain everything.

"Peter's a dick." Jared sniffed, looking at the floor when he realised that his tears from the pain had turned into tears over Peter, "he hasn't come out his room for hours and he's been snapping at me all day and he won't talk to me and I-"

"Hey! Come here!" Carmen grabbed Jared and took him in her arms as he burst into full floods of tears, although he wasn't quite sure why he was crying. She was such a nice woman, she was always there when Jared, Peter and Pindar had a problem and she somehow often managed to make everything better.

"Make him come out, Carmen. He's worrying me!" Jared choked through his tears and let her hug him tighter. _Worried._ That's why he was crying. He was worried about Peter.  
Her long, black hair stuck to his face because of his tears which caused him to laugh a little, "do you know what's wrong with him?" he sat up and faced her, hoping that she would know.

"No." Carmen replied, turning to face the door. They exchanged puzzled glances and Jared managed to stop the tears pouring from his eyes.

"I must look a right pratt!" He laughed and took a deep breath, "Crying because my best friend won't talk to me!"

"Well you are the shortest so you're bound to have childlike qualities..."

"Hey!" Jared laughed and stood up, "wanna go see what's on TV? There's no point putting a film on until Pindar emerges from his room because he'll get confused if he catches it halfway through."

"Yeah, come on. Peter, if you don't come out then you're missing out on popcorn!"

There was a grunt from the other side of the room which almost set Jared off again. Something had upset Peter and it was something to do with him. But what?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun leaked through Jared's curtains and shone in his eyes, causing him to wake up. He opened his eyes groggily and stared up at his ceiling, thinking about how he should really get some curtains that blocked the light out.

He groaned as he rolled out of bed and stretched his arms above his head as he walked over to his door. He caught a glimpse of his naked torso in the mirror and thought that he should really put a shirt on but dismissed that idea at the thought of 'Peter doesn't mind'.

_Peter._ Jared had completely forgotten about his argument with Peter the previous day and the thought of it hit him like a car.

He flung his door open hastily so that he could confront Peter before his brain told him not to. He skidded into the kitchen and looked over to the sofa where he could see the figure of the taller man facing the television which was turned off.

"Peter!" Jared almost shouted. He was shocked that he was actually there as he was half expecting him to be avoiding him. Peter pushed himself from the sofa and turned round to face Jared, speaking before the smaller man was able to say anything more;

"Jared, look I... Yesterday I was a douche and..." Peter paused. He was standing only a metre away from Jared who could now see that he looked awful.  
With his focus on the smaller man's torso, he licked his lips and continued, "I'm sorry." A sigh left his mouth and Jared knew that he couldn't reject his apology when Peter looked so tired and stressed.

"I'm just worried about you..." Jared sighed too, moving closer to his friend so that he could put his hands on his shoulders. Like Jared, Peter was also shirtless but his skin was covered in goose bumps, "Did you sleep okay?" Jared knew by the dark shadows under Peter's eyes and the way his hair was still waxed into position apart from the front that he hadn't slept okay but he asked anyway.

"What do you think?" He tried to smile back but it appeared as if his mouth just wasn't capable of it. Peter ran a hand through the front of his hair (it seemed to be the culprit of why the front was so messy) and then dropped it loosely back to his side, "Did you?"

"Yeah." Jared grimaced and immediately felt bad that he was able to sleep. He had been able to sleep and had almost forgotten the whole thing by the morning. He felt terrible, "I was exhausted. Watching excessive amounts of TV knocked the life right out of me."

"Save me any popcorn?" Peter forced a smile onto his face in a desperate attempt to change the subject. Jared felt a wave of relief cross over him because he had started to feel ridiculously awkward.

"Dude, my food does not get shared. You know this!" Both of the men laughed and Jared realised his hands were still on Peter's broad shoulders. He dropped them down and accidently brushed Peter's left arm and the dark haired man clenched his jaw and licked his lips again.

"Did I hurt you?" Jared panicked and looked at Peter's arm for signs of bruising or cuts in case he'd missed them when he when he walked in the room. There was nothing.

"Uh... No. I just, urm... I'm cold and your hands are warm and it shocked me..."Peter stepped backwards, away from Jared and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand nervously, "We should probably put clothes on, I don't think Stanton would enjoy it if we turned up to his meeting half naked."

"Oh yeah, we have a meeting!" Jared hit himself lightly on the forehead and pretended like Peter's strange behaviour had gone unnoticed, "I think he'd like it personally!" He acted out adjusting an invisible tie and put on a seductive face, "Who wouldn't like a piece of _this_?"

"Oh, go put some clothes on!" Peter laughed and pushed Jared out of his way, playfully before disappearing into his bedroom. He seemed to be in a good mood but Jared couldn't help but wonder just how long this one would last.

"Are we all agreed then? Yes? Damien?" Stanton Infeld frowned as his nephew, Damien didn't respond to his question. Damien always had something to say in Partners meetings yet he hadn't said one word throughout this one.

"Give him a minute, he needs to process all of the information and figure out what all of the big words used in the last fifteen minutes actually mean before he can have an input." Jared laughed and a few of the other partners tried to disguise their sniggers by looking out of the window or covering their mouths with their hands.

Damien glanced over at Jared and there was a look in his eyes that Jared couldn't work out. He seemed worried, almost frightened and that made him feel slightly uneasy as that look had only entered his eyes after he spoke.

Jared frowned and looked to Peter to see if he'd witnessed the same thing but he was glowering at Damien with his jaw tightly clenched. What was going on?

"Dickwad, you look freaky, dude. You stoned or something?"

"Shut up, Jared!" Peter hissed, tugging on his arm a bit too rough for his liking. Peter's glare was directed at him now and he felt his stomach turn. Something about the look on Peter's face made him feel a bit scared and it was at that moment he realised something had happened between his best friend and the silent man across the table.

"I think now is a good time to end this meeting..." Stanton cleared his throat and stood up, "good bye, everyone."

"Someone tell Damien that, I think he's glued to that chair." Hanna put a hand on Damien's shoulder but he just shrugged it off, turning to stare out of the window.

Jared walked over to Damien's chair and put his mouth close to his ear;

"Meeting's over, time for knitting club" he stumbled backwards as Damien got to his feet and turned to face him.  
Jared smirked and braced himself for a string of insults but his cheeky smile was quickly replaced with a puzzled look as Damien looked him in the eyes, bit on his lip as if to stop himself from saying something and power walked away from the room.

"What the-" Jared went to follow Damien from the room but he was stopped by his work partner grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the room in the opposite direction to where Damien had gone.

"It's true then." Peter said flatly and stared expectantly at Jared as if he were waiting for an explanation proving him right. Of course Jared couldn't give that to him because he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Is what true? What are you going on about?" Jared fought the urge to yell at the man standing in front of him and he felt his body tense up. Peter hadn't been himself lately and he'd had it. Why should he be the butt of his bad temper and weird accusations?

"You know, I thought you'd at least tell me even if it was just a onetime fuck up. I can't believe you would actually do something like that let alone hide it from me. Jesus, Jared at least own up to it now!" Peter let out a long breath and gave Jared a powerful shove as if he were trying to knock words out of him, "well? For FUCK'S sake!" He stormed off when Jared just stared at him blankly, wondering what the hell was going on.

"What is wrong with you?" Jared yelled after him but didn't expect an answer. He stood awkwardly, staring after Peter, wondering what he had supposedly done. He knew for a fact that the other man had got the wrong end of the stick (whatever that stick was) and he needed to prove that. He needed to find out exactly what Peter's problem was and there was only one way to do that; speak to Damien.

Jared took off down the hallway towards Damien's office, desperate for answers. When he arrived outside the office door he didn't bother to knock and he just burst in.

"What have you said?" He insisted, sounding a little less authoritative than he'd hoped to. Damien jumped out of his chair and backed away from him as if he was some kind of monster. His facial expression also showed fear and worry which made Jared lose his nerve completely.

They stared at each other from opposite sides of the room for what seemed like hours until Damien managed to slowly walk across the room towards him, pulling a confused expression that was a slight improvement from the frightened one as far as Jared was concerned.

"Well?" Jared demanded, sounding a little more confident than before even though he was far for confident.

"I don't know what you're on abo-"

"Yes you do! Don't lie to me, Karp!" Jared launched himself forwards and grabbed Damien by the collar before he had the chance to react to his sudden movement. Damien smelt strongly of aftershave and Jared was sure he'd smelt that bittersweet smell before. Although it was a nice smell, it caused him to feel a little nauseous.

Jared's other hand was wrapped firmly around Damien's tie. He had meant to put a fist against his chest but his hand had got tangled in the loose fabric, making the gesture look a lot less threatening. He looked as if he was about to mug the man of his tie.

"You gonna get that off me or d'you want me to do it for you?" Damien's voice was suddenly husky and Jared felt a hand cover his own that was clutching the tie. Damien began to loosen his tie with his fingers and Jared jerked away immediately but wasn't able to pull his hand free.

"What the hell are you doing?" He shouted and tugged at his hand which was now trapped underneath Damien's. He had a hold on him and he couldn't get away, "get off!" he squeaked and managed to pull away, almost toppling backwards.

The frightened look suddenly returned to Damien's eyes and he looked slightly crazy, staring at Jared with his tie half way down his chest. Jared was staring back too, with a frightened look on his face. What was up with Damien? He looked hurt.

Jared backed out of the room, not daring to take his eyes off of the other man in case he bolted forwards, and ran. He needed to find Peter.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three:

Ten times Jared had tried to ring Peter. Ten times his calls had been rejected. He knew for a fact that Peter hadn't gone home because he'd already checked the car park and the car they'd arrived in was still there. There was always the possibility that he'd called a taxi or jumped on a bus to get home but Jared knew that the chances of him doing those were slim.

Just to be sure, he rang Pindar who he knew would be sitting at home probably abusing the internet. The phone rang four times before an irritated Pindar answered;

"Jared? What? I'm busy and-"

"Shut up and put your hands to a better use like ringing Peter. He's gone off in a strop and I don't know where he is. He's not at home is he?"

"You two are always arguing lately," Pindar stated the obvious and then continued, "he's not here and I haven't heard anything from him so can you leave me alone now?"

"You can watch other people get some later! Just do me a favour and see if Peter will answer your call." Jared hissed angrily.

"If he won't answer you then why will he answer me?" Pindar whined and put the phone down before Jared could completely lose his temper at him.

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and scowled at the mirror in front of him. His search for Peter had taken him to their office, to the car park, down just about every corridor in the massive building to where he was now; the toilets.

He was completely lost as to where Peter could be and he racked his brains for any possible places he would have walked to, but his mind was completely blank. Rage was now beginning to take over his body and he had a feeling that the second he saw Peter then he would throttle him.

Why should he have to chase Peter around when he was the one acting like a jerk? He shouldn't. _If he wants to sort this out then he can come to me. I don't care._ Jared thought and scowled at himself again in the mirror as if to prove to himself that he was tough.

BANG. The sound of the door swinging open and hitting the wall made him jump and he hoped that he'd turn and see Peter standing there (_so much for not caring_).

He swung round, still scowling, ready for an argument only to see Damien heading for a sink, holding his nose. Jared stared at him, shocked as he moved his hand away, showing that it was covered with blood, along with half of his face.

"Shit," Jared sped across the room to a toilet cubicle, grabbing a fistful of toilet paper before handing it to the injured man, "here."

Damien grunted and wiped at his face with the wad of toilet paper, pinching his nose and tipping his head backwards, his eyes closed.

"No, come here." Jared swatted Damien's hand away from his nose and held the paper for him, pushing his head back up so that he was facing straight on. He'd gone a ghostly pale and the blood was seeping through the tissue quickly. He grabbed Damien's hand, put it on his nose and muttered at him to keep it there as he grabbed more tissue to soak the blood up.

"Thanks." Damien leant forwards as Jared nursed his bloody nose, putting all of his weight on one of his hands that was gripping tightly to the sink. His other hand was on Jared's which was holding the tissue against his face again.

"What happened?" Jared shifted uncomfortably as he realised Damien's hand was on his own. He was suddenly reminded of his encounter with the man earlier and fought the urge to back away. He couldn't just leave him in a state.

Damien stared at him harshly, "Your boyfriend." he growled before pulling his hand away from Jared's.  
Jared quickly removed his hand from the other man's face, revealing the blood stained mess underneath where their hands had been.

"He's not my boyfriend." The smaller man spat, not realising the anger in his voice until Damien raised an eyebrow quizzically, "well he's not. The way he's acting we might not even be friends for..." Jared trailed off as he realised what he was saying and who he was saying it to. He knew he couldn't live without Peter and he was damn sure that Peter couldn't live without him. Also, why was he saying this to _Damien Karp _of all people? They weren't exactly what you'd call friends and the thought of earlier was still hanging over him.

"Oh... uh..." Damien shifted awkwardly. He clenched his jaw and looked at the floor, clearly thinking about something which caused Jared to feel a little uneasy. He was waiting for a snide comment but instead he said nothing. He just walked over to a cubicle to get some more tissue.

Jared watched as the other man ran the tissue under the cold tap and squeezed it slightly before dabbing it on his bloodstained face. Damien looked up and caught his eyes, causing a short but very awkward moment that was broken by Damien;

"Is it because of me?"

"What?" Jared was completely confused. He had no idea what the other man was talking about and he was beginning to get irritated at the way he hadn't actually managed to clear the blood up yet had managed to smear it around.

"Uh... because of..." Damien gave up with trying to clean up his face as he glanced in the mirror, breaking eye contact. Jared suddenly realised that he was talking about what he'd done earlier and dug his hands into his pockets, again fighting the urge to leave the room.

"Uh, he doesn't know about that, haven't seen him..." Jared desperately wanted to clear the awkwardness in the air (and Damien's face), "I don't kiss and tell right?" he tried to laugh but the looks that flashed across the other man's face made him go silent.

A look of confusion was the first thing to register on Damien's face but was quickly replaced with a scowl after what appeared to be relief.

_Too soon. _He thought.

"We didn't kiss." Damien finally grunted and turned to face the mirror, returning the wet toilet paper to his face.

"Stop that!" Jared blurted out, unable to watch Damien's struggle with the blood any longer, and grabbed the tissue from the other man's hand. He felt like he was looking after a child and pictured Damien as a ten year old boy that had just been punched in the face for being cocky. He forced himself not to smile at the image and wiped away the blood as best he could.

Damien was staring at him, his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched tightly. This was the Damien that Jared was used to, a glare on his face and his eyes cold – not the man that he'd had an encounter with earlier on.

Jared suddenly felt his phone go off in his pocket and wrenched his eyes away from Damien's. He hadn't even noticed that they'd been staring at each other so intently. He fumbled at his pockets with his free hand until he eventually found his phone. It was a text from Peter.

"Boyfriend?" Damien grumbled and Jared shot him a threatening look.

"It's Peter, yeah."

"What did he say? 'Meet me in our office so we can kiss it all better'?"

"Oh shut up. Why do you care?" Jared opened the message and let out a sigh of relief, it read:

_In the office, come here?_

"I've gotta go..." Jared almost beamed and wiped the last of the blood from Damien's face. Maybe Peter would actually speak to him instead of acting like a child.

"I was right then!" Damien growled, following Jared out of the toilets into the hallway.

"Apart from the fact we're meeting at a local motel though." He turned and winked at Damien before walking away, leaving Damien staring after him, open mouthed and confused with his arms folded, hands gripping his biceps.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four:

Jared took a deep breath before entering his and Peter's office. He could see Peter through the glass, slumped in his chair, staring out of the window. He looked like he was deep in thought.

"Hey." Jared walked through the door and carefully closed it behind him, hoping that no one would notice how awkward he must've looked. That would raise questions and he was sure people would start betting on why he was being awkward with suggestions such as "woke up in the same bed this morning after a drunk night" and "Jared screwing Peter's mum".

"Hey." Peter sat up straight in his chair and faced Jared, a half smile on his face and his head tilted slightly to the side. They stared at each other in silence for a moment before Jared broke it:

"Are you okay? I mean really. What's going on?" He looked down at his feet as he realised how agitated he got whilst saying that and ran a hand through his hair, getting irritated at the fact that Peter was just looking at him, not saying a word, "Peter!" he almost yelled and strode over to the taller man, slamming his hands down on the desk in front of him.

"Jared." Peter sighed and looked up at him from where he was sitting. Jared felt his stomach flip and he straightened himself up, feeling bad for getting so angry at his best friend. _Best friend. _Why were they acting so strange when they were best friends?

Jared sighed and looked Peter in the eyes, "Just please tell me what's going on."

"As if you don't know!" Peter half shouted and even he looked shocked at his tone of voice, "Sorry. I wanted you here so we could... talk. I don't wanna argue with you but I just want to know _why_?"

"Why? Why what?" Jared stared at Peter, completely perplexed. How had this all been turned on him when Peter was the one acting like a jerk?

"Alton told me! Jared, why are you being so awkward about this?" Peter stood up now and walked around the desk so that he was next to Jared, looking down at the smaller man with a distressed look in his eyes.

"Alton told you what? Peter!" The smaller man balled his hands into fists and was gritting his teeth. This wasn't what he'd been expecting when he came up to the office. He was hoping for Peter to just explain why he was being a dick and to apologise, not to be blamed and quizzed about something that he had no idea about.

"About you and Karp!" Peter shouted and ran a hand through his own hair, glancing through the glass of their office to see if anyone on the other side had noticed them shouting at each other. Jared turned to take a look as well and sure enough there were a few intrigued faces peering their way, forcing back amused smiles. Jared ignored them and turned to face Peter again. _Let them watch._

"Huh?" Jared scowled and thought for a moment; was he talking about what happened in Karp's office earlier? It couldn't have been because he was sure he didn't know. Why had he punched him then? Alton wouldn't have known about that either. Alton. Peter had acted weird with Alton the previous day... What was Peter talking about?

"And here you go again, acting like you have no idea! At that party, Jared! Alton _saw _you and said he had bets with Damien whether you would or not."

"What? What did- Peter... I... what? Bets on what?" Jared stammered and his head hurt. He thought back to the party and forced himself to remember it. All he could remember was waking up with his shirt off and the smell of a bittersweet scent...

"_Oh I don't know_," Peter's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "_maybe _you made out with him and ended up in your bedroom."

"What? No? No. No!" Jared processed what had been said and the realisation of why Damien's scent was so familiar to him slapped him in the face. He stared up at Peter and didn't even care about how gormless he must've looked with his face twisted into an expression of disgust and fear. Not even twenty minutes ago he'd been alone with Damien, cleaning up his face because Peter punched him. _Peter punched him._

"What?" It was Peter's turn to look confused now and he moved closer to Jared, ducking his head slightly so that their eyes were level. Jared swallowed and felt his skin tingle as he looked into Peter's enticing hazel eyes.

"I don't remember much from that night." The littler man replied in a small voice and looked at the floor. What had Damien done to him? He'd never done anything like _that _with a man and he'd never even considered kissing a guy... Well, apart from Peter but he'd always put that down to them being so close. Surely he'd know if they'd had sex? He'd feel something surely or he'd remember doing something like that. There was no way he had been _that _drunk.

Peter suddenly looked scared and lightly pushed Jared's chin up so that they would be facing each other again, "You don't remember... what do you remember?" the taller man asked in a soothing voice, his eyes fixed on Jared's.

"I remember... I remember picking a plant up?"

"Oh. Oh I am going to kill him." Peter put his hands on Jared's shoulders and squeezed them tightly, "How _dare _he take advantage like that."

"Me and him didn't... yano?" Jared looked back at the floor and found himself wondering why Peter had been so angry about what had happened before finding out that Jared himself had no recollection of it, "Wait, why did you get so angry about it?"

Peter's eyes flicked to the floor, back up to Jared and back to the floor again, "Urm... It was Karp?" he almost asked but Jared knew his best friend far too well to even think about believing that that was the full story.

"Jealous?" The smaller man teased in the hope that it would make the situation less awkward and serious but what was said next completely stunned him;

"Yeah."

"Uh-"

"Yes, I was jealous okay?" Peter turned his face to look away and Jared just stared at him, his stomach doing somersaults. _Jealous._

"Jealous?" He squeaked back, a small smile forming on his face. _Jealous, "_Nothing will ever change between us for the worse, you know that right? You've never said this when I've been a bit crazy at parties before with people..." _Jealous. _Jared knew that Peter wasn't jealous in case it ruined their friendship but he wanted to hear _him_ say it.

"Yeah but they were..." The dark haired man took a deep breath and continued, "They were all women and I just accepted the fact you weren't into men."

"Oh?" Jared just grinned. He knew that he probably wasn't making this easy on Peter but he'd waited so long for this without even realising. He'd always found himself forcing himself in the other direction of his partner when they were drunk in case he tried something with him. He'd never actually wanted to admit it to himself but he had longed to _have _Peter for years now. There was just something about the way that the well built, taller man was with him that just made him want to wrap his arms around him and never let go.

"And when I heard about Karp it just stung a bit because I thought you were into that and wondered... wondered why not me." Peter's hands hadn't moved from Jared's shoulders but his grip had loosened. His eyes looked teary and Jared felt a tug on his heart. The nights they'd spent talking to each other about everything and the hugs they'd shared suddenly seemed like so much more.

"Because you clearly didn't get in on the betting action!" Jared laughed and put his hands on Peter's waist, showing the other man that he was completely alright with how he felt and hoping that it showed that the feeling was mutual.

"Wow I feel like a dick." Peter blushed as Jared's hands touched him and the smaller man laughed at him;

"Look at that little blush!"

"Oh shut up!" Peter went to pull away from Jared, clearly embarrassed but Jared pulled his waist towards him, preventing him from getting away.

"Make me." He smiled cheekily and gazed into Peter's eyes, hoping that the other man would get the message. He could feel his heart trying to jump out of his throat and felt his face grow hot as he started to blush too. Peter returned his smile and moved one of his hands from his shoulder up to his face and moved their faces close together so that they could feel each other's breath on their skin.

Jared remembered how everyone could see into their office but didn't care. He didn't care who saw him with Peter. He closed the gap between them and put years of funny feelings for his best friend into the kiss and all of a sudden everything made perfect sense.


End file.
